And here begins my fellowship adventure. The way the fellowship works is basically that American Jewish World Service pays all of my living expenses so that I can volunteer for an NGO in Central America for nine months. As mentioned earlier, I am not allowed to specifically mention the name of the NGO that I will be working for, but I can tell you all that I will be living in San Salvador, El Salvador and the social justice field within which I will be working is that of sustainable agriculture. I don’t know anything about that yet, but I’m looking forward to this amazing cross-cultural opportunity. For the past 3.5 weeks I have been preparing for my upcoming job by participating in fellowship orientation, held in Jinotepe, Nicaragua along with 10 other fellows. The major components of this orientation, are homestay, Spanish classes and orientation sessions.
Jinotepe is a small town about an hour and a half south-east of Managua. It has a small park across from a huge church, a bustling Mercado (market) where you can get anything from cheap vegetables to cheap sneakers, and a long Avenida Central (central avenue) which sports various shops, internet cafes, banks, a post office, a play ground and a taco restaurant. Jinotepe, like many central american towns I have so far visited, does not have a single road sign, so landmarks are vital.
My homestay family is very hospitable and they are also very good cooks. The typical Nicaraguan food is rice and beans, something I was able to learn firsthand: breakfast = ‘gallo pinto’, a traditional dish of rice mixed together with beans, lunch = rice next to beans, dinner = beans. Jokes aside though, I am lucky to have a variety of side dishes along with those meals including eggs, meat (chicken, beef and fish on Fridays due to lent), salads and often freshly squeezed orange juice. Yay! I also lucked out in the bathroom department – I got a private bathroom, hot water and running water 24 hours a day. Many of my fellow fellows had cold bucket showers and dodgy water supply. The house location being on the geographically lower altitude area of town ensures both stable running water and flood risk. You win some, you lose some. Also, I recall my first few homestay observations. The first time I entered my room, I observed the only decoration - a huge wooden cross right over my bed. It reminds me how homogenously Christian it is here, to the point that even after explaining my Judaism, my homestay mother asked me what kind of a Christian this meant I was. Secondly, I observed that they have a cute pet parrot that does an excellent impression of a child (giggles, laughter, tantrums). Being the ecology nerd that I am, I identified it as a Yellow-naped Parrot, an endangered species in the area, presumably due to its selection as a pet due to its ‘talking’ ability. Sadness. Lastly, I quickly noticed that my homestay family (like many American families) watches TV all evening. This was initially disappointing because I wanted to engage my family in conversation, however I soon realized that this was an excellent way to improve my Spanish, so I got hooked on a Mexican telenovela.
The orientation period has overall been jam-packed with activities. My normal day begins around 8:00 for Spanish class which lasts until 11:30. Then I make my way home via the internet café. I eat a lunch (the biggest meal of the day) and race back to orientation sessions at 1, finish at 6pm. I head home to eat dinner and watch “la viuda de blanco”. It is awesome. Often I have an evening activity anywhere between 7:30 and 10. I go to sleep. Repeat. Orientation sessions have been a variety of group discussions, lectures, socio-dramas, presentations etc. General topics include the things that will hopefully prepare us for the upcoming months – cross-cultural skills, social/economic/political history of El Salvador and Nicaragua, inner workings of AJWS, international development, social justice, health safety and security, and so forth. I feel as if I have learnt a lot, which is a good thing. The best part of orientation though, is getting to know the other fellows – all of whom have turned out to be knowledgable, interesting and fun. Many of them also share my fascination with Frisbees, so I really can’t complain at all. Yay for having friends.
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